Soviet Union

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик) is a federal socialist state spanning from Europe to Asia founded in 1922. Nominally a union of socialist republics, in practice its government and economy were highly centralized with it's capital being Moscow. It is a one-party communist state led by Dmitry Yazov. After defeating the United States of America in the cold war in 1987, it is now the most powerful country in the world.

The Soviet Union borders Norway, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary in Europe, China, Mongolia and Korea in East Asia, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey in the Middle East.

Georgy Malenkov (1953 - 1988)
In March of 1953, Josef Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union died. A power struggle begins within the Communist Party to replace Stalin as the new leaders. Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria and Vyacheslav Molotov formed a trioka to resist their main competitor for the position of leadership, Nikita Khrushchev. In order to appease the public, the trio decided to lighten media censorship and a mass prison release. Meanwhile, Malenkov Beria who continues to pray on the people of Moscow.

New Socialist Program (1956)
On 7 May 1956, Malenkov introduced the New Socalist Platform (NSP) to restructure the Soviet economy around the civilian industry and technological advancements at home. Previously, the economy is still dedicated military production and scientists constantly finding new ways to defend the USSR from foreign invasions. Malenkov's NSP drastically reduced the budget spend on military and diverted the funds to other sectors, most importantly in the development of infrastructures in rural and urban areas. Though controversial at the time, the NSP proved to be a right choice as the west continues to spend massive amount of money on the military. The NSP was proved to be successful in the years ahead and became one of the greatest acheivement in Malenkov's life.

Krushchev's coup (1959)
Despite the formation of the trioka, Krushchev still have a significant amount of supports within the party mainly the militarists, reformists and plutocrats known to Malenkov's supporters as 'Anti-Party Faction'. Krushchev opposed the NSP believing it would be fatal for the Soviet Union and opposed the influence of KGB Chairman, Beria, within the trioka and the slow liberalisation of the Soviet economy. As a high ranking official within the CPSU, his words weighs a lot and Beria feared that his secrets may leak out because of him. Using his position as the head of the KGB, Beria began a campaign to scrutinize Krushchev and his allies and ruining their reputation. In response, Krushchev decided to act. In 1959, he gathered his supporters at the Presidium. They proposed that Malenkov resign from his position and the promotion of Krushchev to the position of Chairman of the Council of Ministers. The Presidium was not supportive of this action and was voted down in a narrow 6 to 5. Following this attempt, the 'Anti-Party Faction' were expelled from the party and Krushchev trialed for treason and executed.

Space Speech (1958)
Prior to Krushchev's coup, the space race began in 1955 between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union launched the first successful satellite into orbit in 1957. Across the sea, many American politicans wanted to launch a spacecraft, landing on the moon and also exploring the other planets of the solar systems. Similar thoughts were also expressed in the Soviet Union but Malenkov did not have simialr enthusiasm. In a speech during the 1958 CPSU Congress, Malenkov have stated that the Soviet Union would continue development in space but would not spend limited funds on space exploration unlike that of the United States. Rather than exploring space, the Soviet would use satellites for the economic development of the country instead and to secure the borders of the union. It was yet again proven to be a smart move as the United States took over a decade and billions of dollars to land on the moon in 1971.

Shanghai Summit (1960)
The Shanghai Summit was held by the People's Republic of China in Shanghai in February 1960 and was attended by leaders from the Soviet Union, Korea, Mongolia and North Vietnam. The talk was to strengthen socialism in East Asia. Talks between the various nations proceeded smoothly and various trade deals were struck. The Soviets would provide her Asian allies with modern industrial machinaries and technical experience in exchange for prefrencial price on food import. The attending states also agreed to mutually assist each other in case of a conflict with the west. Of note to Western Kremlinologists was that Malenkov took a leading role in the summit rather than foreign minister Malenkov. The Shanghai Summit ended with the socialist powers of Asia stronger and much more together.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1961)
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 22-days confrontation between the United States of America and the Soviet Union resulting in a Soviet victory. In March, the new Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, have requested for the Soviets to station nuclear weapons on Cuba to defend from the Americans and began contruction of missile launch facilities on the island later in Summer. The US was quick to notice and began a military blockade of the island and ordered Soviet that are on it's way back to the Soviet Union. After tense negotiations, US Secretary of State, William Rogers, attempted to subvert the President's authority for a Haitian-backed coup against the communists in Cuba. Rogers was subsequently fired in the last days of the confrontation. President Nixon was called a communist sympathiser and conceded to Soviet demands to move American missiles out of Turkey and Italy while the USSR would be able to keep half of Soviet missiles in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis gave the USSR an edge which would last another decade.

1963 Economic Report (1963)
In the 1963 economic report, the NSP have been proven to be a successful plan and saw an economic upswing in the Soviet Union. The 1963 gave Malenkov further support from the general population particularly in Russia SFSR. The report was a victory for Malenkov and also a victory for the technocratic faction within the Gosplan, the agency responsible for the centralised planned economy in the USSR, who supported such reforms. The report paved way for further economic reforms under Malenkov.

Beria's coup (1964)
Malenkov have also started the reshuffling of the Politburo with old members replaced with younger ones which promoted Malenkov's position within the party. Beria was strongly opposed to this decision and feared that he was to be removing the trioka as well. In 1964, Beria launched his own coup attempt officially disbanding the trioka. Malenkov managed to defeat Beria and he was publically shamed before executed the same year. Meanwhile, Molotov continues to be a devoted and loyal supporter of Malenkov.

Great Freeze (1964 - 1973)
Following Krushchev and Beria's coup, Malenkov decided to further consolidate his power within the Soviet Union known as the Great Freeze. Hardline social reforms were placed during this time and the state began to limit the freedom of speech and press which Malenkov provided in the earlier years of his leadership. He also began a brutal consolidation of power within the Communist Party. Although the late 1960s were the start of the Great Freeze, the peak was in 1971 following the assassination of Andrei Gromyko, a high ranking Soviet diplomat, by KGB agents. By consolidating his power, he is able to pave way for his plans for the Soviet Union without obstructions.

1966 Tashkent Earthquake (1966)
On 26 April 1966, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook the capital city of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent. About 80% of the densly populated city was destroyed and over half of it's old cities were destroyed. Between 15 to 5500 people lost their life in the earthquake and rendered thousands of the city's inhabitants as homeless. The Soviet government knew to act fast and Moscow seized the opportunity to rebuild the city in the Soviet's vision. Construction workers were sent to Tashkent and displaced families stayed in temperory lodges while plans for a new Tashkent was being drawn up in Moscow. The city would be defined with wide boulevard and large-scale, earthquake resistance highrises as a showcase to the Soviet people what the country would bring. However, much of it's ancient architectures and history were destroyed including the almost 600 years old Dzhuma Mosque. Nevertheless, the new Tashkent became the model for future Soviet city planning. With a great emphasize on modernist architecture and, for the first time, a greater emphasize on individual than collective apartments on request of the Brezhnevite faction within the CPSU which continues to grow in strength up until Malenkov's death.

Positive Foreign Policy and Suprise Detente (1973 - 1975)
The preiod known as the Great Freeze ended in 1973 and a new age began to start in the Soviet Union as political and cultural restrictions were lifted. The Soviet Union began a persuit of a 'Positive Foreign Policy' where the Soviet Union established a more friendly relations with capitalist Western European nations and third world countries. This greatly alarmed the United States which the Soviet Union did to hesitate to pursue better relations. The period was known as a Suprise Detente and the two governments arranged meetings to improve relations and the two even agreed to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaty on 26 December 1974 which limited the nuclear arsenal of both nations. The Detente came to an end in 1975 following the Spanish Crisis when tensions in Europe reached all time high.

Grigory Romanov (1988 - 1993)
In January of 1988, Geogry Malenkov dies and was succeeded by Grigory Romanov. He was supported from the Young Stalinist, a Stalinist faction within the Komsomol which rose to prominence in the 1980s prior to Malenkov's deaths. Young Stalin was later purged in 1996 following Romanov's death. Romanov also began ethnic reshuffling across the Soviet Union most evident was in Moldova SSR where Russians managed to gain a plurality within the SSR and the Moldovans became the minority. In 1992, Romanov also proclaimed victory against the capitalist powers in response to the collapse of the United States 6 years ago in 1987. The Soviet flag is also changed.

Dmitry Yazov (1993 - )
In 1993, Romanov's rule ended abruptly after an assassination. The Politburo elected Dmitry Yazov as a more conservative leader for the Soviet Union and a member of the Military Clique within the Communist Party. In the Late 1990s, the question of the OGAS came to an end and the final decision was not to be implemented into the Soviet Union in any form dur to the concern of cost. However, there are still support for the return of the OGAS.

Yazov's conservative rule maintained the status quo and did not want major changes. This resulted in economic stagnation within the Soviet Union and the previous ethnic reshuffling led to resentment among the population in the SSRs. Most prominently within Ukraine and Armenia who rebelled in 2002 and 2008 respectively. The Ukrainian rebellion in 2002 was a major rebellion but the Red Army was successful in quelling the rebellion and forcing the rebels to hide underground while in Armenia in 2008, the rebels were brutally crushed. Following the Ukrainian rebellion, Turkey decided to start a border conflict with the Soviets in 2006 mostly concentrated along the border with Georgia SSR.